+++ title = “03” date = 2020 +++ Consider that we all come prepackaged with a unique set of DNA. The instructions that tell us who we are (some might call nature) varies from person to person. And so does our personal experiences (what some might call nurture). Knowing these two facts, it’s _crucial _that we all continue to be ourselves. We must allow our unique values and beliefs to inform our choices (and if you don’t know your values or beliefs, no better time to start thinking about them).

+++ title = “03” date = 2020 +++ I thought in the last couple of days about giving up writing this blog. It’s an amazing creative exercise, to wake up every day and write about a different topic that I find interesting or fascinating. Very few people read it, though occasionally someone will want to chat about a topic I’ve written about, which is always rewarding. That said, in this time of very little time, I felt that it made sense to stop writing for a bit.

We humans have an interesting way of deciding what’s real and what’s not real. We give things meaning. When they make synthetic diamonds in a lab, who’s to say they aren’t “real?” Sure, they aren’t real in the context of our definition of diamonds. But they are as real as anything else in this world. We decide meaning, based on context, and in doing so, we decide what is real.

There’s another interesting subreddit I sometimes look at called r/namenerds. It’s exactly what the name implies; these are people who geek out over names. They love names that string together well, first and last initials, nicknames, name rhythms, unique names, pet names, and everything in between. It occurred me to that these are, in the end, lovers of poetry. What is a name of it isn’t poetry? Why do we seek to know the meaning of people’s names if it doesn’t unlock some curious part of us?

You can’t really separate the two because all language is poetry. Consider that in Spanish, “I missed the bus” becomes “the bus missed me.” Or the fact that some authors, when their books are translated, fine the translations to be more beautiful and paradoxical than they could have ever imagined in their native language. Or the fact that when we talk in conversation, we’re constantly making metaphors, connecting the dots of our brain.